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from May 12, 2007 This is the future, right? I mean, when we were little kids, the 21st century was it. IT. Flying cars, robots, atomic supermen, that sort of thing. Criswell said it best- "We are all interested in the future, for that is where we shall spend the rest of our lives." And damn if he wasn't right, 'cause I haven't managed yet to live in the past, at least not for real. I was reading an old Ray Bradbury story that was set in the far- … Read More

4 Responses to “This Is The Future, Right? (Classic Repost)”

I’m old enough to have gone through Monsanto’s “House of the Future” at Disneyland when it first opened in 1957. It was supposed to represent what homes would look like in 1987 (with everything made of plastic, if the Monsanto people had their way.) I don’t remember being particularly impressed. There were too many floor-to-ceiling windows so it was hot. (Could have been all those sweaty tourists, though.) It looked odd being placed in such close proximity to Cinderella’s castle. Now THAT would be a great house of the future.

The Monsanto house only lasted a mere ten years before it was outdated and removed. According to reports, the wrecking ball brought in to demolish it bounced off the plastic walls and the whole thing had to be taken apart from the inside with hack saws and choker chains.

Thanks. Since I grew up in So. Calif., I went to Disneyland at least once a year. That first year it opened the tropical plants on the Jungle Boat ride were so small, you could see the mechanisms that made the giraffes’ heads nod. I actually saw Walt Disney there once. He was riding around in a golf cart with some other “suits” and he got out somewhere near Frontier Land where my parents and I were walking. My mother wanted me to go up to him but there was already a crowd of kids around him and I was just too afraid to do it. For me, it would have been as presumptuous as walking up to God and saying “Hey, how’s it goin’?”